David Lynch: I’m not directing Twin Peaks sequel

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Traditionally, Easter is the Christian holiday that celebrates rebirth and regeneration (and chocolate), but in the land of Twin Peaks things look dead and buried. I was impossibly excited when US pay-TV channel Showtime announced that it was working with original Twin Peaks co-creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, on a brand new, nine-episode series that would air in 2016. It was touted as a sequel to the 1990s cult hit, and, as a crime drama fan, this dark, surreal whodunit – investigated on different planes of consciousness – seemed to me to imbue everything Lynch had set tonally in previous work like Blue Velvet and Wild At Heart to take the genre to new levels of intrigue. But now it looks as though the renowned director and artist will not be involved in the new series.

I’m digesting that message like I’m eating glass cornflakes. It’s not easy. I don’t want to belittle the contribution of Mark Frost – he was co-creator after all – but Lynch’s involvement in anything to do with Twin Peaks is absolutely necessary.

And it all looked so good for a while, too. Actors (notably) Kyle MacLachlan, tweeted pictures of themselves back in character costumes (have a look at our story here). Pictures of scripts were posted social media. The dream seemed to be real.

But then we got a whiff that Lynch and Showtime had reached an impasse in contract negotiations. All the noises coming out of Hollywood was that the two parties were working hard to find a way to bridge some gaps and that Twin Peaks would still happen.

And then this. It’s a devastating concept, and many fans, quite rightly, bleated that if there’s no Lynch, there’s no Twin Peaks. It’s unclear at this stage what level of involvement Lynch has had in development of the sequel story, as his tweets are saying that he’s not going to be directing the nine, new episodes.

Showtime, in response to Lynch’s tweets, issued a statement:

We were saddened to read David Lynch’s statement today since we believed we were working towards solutions with David and his reps on the few remaining deal points. Showtime also loves the world of Twin Peaks and we continue to hold out hope that we can bring it back in all its glory with both of its extraordinary creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, at its helm.

So although Lynch issued his tweets of mass destruction, the way back to the town of Twin Peaks isn’t completely blocked. Showtime obviously wants to make this happen, and fans will surely boycott the show if Lynch isn’t involved.